The Castle and Estate

1275
In about 1275, in the days of Count Floris V, and during the period that the cathedral city Utrecht was developing into a market town and the River Vecht was part of the navigation route to the South Sea, Knight Gerard Splinter van Ruwiel laid the first foundations for the Nyenrode Castle. His coat of arms was a red bar in a field of gold. This is still visible in the shutters of the Castle, and also form the official colors of the Nyenrode Business Universiteit. The location of the Castle was well-chosen: a sandy ridge, which could carry the heavy construction surrounded by peat, so that one could make use of the surrounding water to defend the Castle in times of need. The direct vicinity of the River Vecht was a source of income, as the passing ships were made to pay a toll.

1481-1673
The Lords Nyenrode dedicated their Castle to the Count of Holland. The Castle was destroyed twice, in 1481 and in 1511. In 1539 the Barons Van den Bongard inherited the Domain of Nyenrode. It was Bernard van den Bongard III who turned the Castle into a Castle like manor between 1632 and 1642 and who modernised and beautified the outward appearance of the building. The Castle thus was given the typical characteristics of a knightly mansion in the Dutch Renaissance style, namely a house with a Castle-like form and a drawbridge. Many examples of such houses could be found in the province of Utrecht. In 1672, the French had their headquarters at Nyenrode. At the advance of Stadtholder King William II, the French set fire to the Castle on September 6, 1673. Johan Ortt, who bought the Castle in 1675, repaired the damage caused by the fire.

1675-1950
From 1675 to 1853 Nyenrode was owned by the Ortt family, merchants (cloth manufacturers and corn merchants) in Amsterdam. They bought Nyenrode together with the Domain Breukelen for 40,000 Dutch Guilders (19,110 euro). After that, two generations of the industrial family De Heus occupied the Castle. From 1907 to 1934 Michiel Onnes (a German coffee-merchant) lived at Nyenrode. He restored the Castle and the surrounding park to its former glory of the period of Van den Bongard. The entire project costed him one million Dutch guilders (nearly 500,000 euro). Between 1916 and 1918 the Gate building was built and the coach house reconstructed. Also the dungeon was completely re-built on its old foundation and raised by one floor. It had never been this high before.
Subsequently, the art-dealer Jacques Goudstikker owned the estate. He died in an accident in May 1940. After World War II, Ms Désirée Goudstikker, who then owned the entire property, let Nyenrode to the Foundation N.O.I.B. (Dutch Foreign Service Training Institute) in 1946. Soon afterwards she sold it to the Foundation Nyenrode for Dfl. 250,000 (119440 euro).